Placard holder for tank cars



March 11, 1930. w. E. COOPER ET AL PLACARD HOLDER FOR TANK CARS Filed July 19. 1928 14 Fig.3.

Inventors W. E. Cooper.

I F. K. Habenicht By Att'y.

Patented Mar. 11 1930 UNITED STATES WARREN E. COOPER, OF NEW YORK,

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNORS TO wnsrnsn RAILWAY EQUIPMENT COMPANY,-

Y., AND FREDERICK K. HAZBENICHT, OF

OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI PLACARI) HOLDER FOR TANK CARS Application filed July 19, 1928.

It is the practice to apply to tank cars used in transporting inflammable liquids, acids or other material of a dangerous nature, a placard indicating not only the contents of the car but also its conditionwhether full or empty. These placards have usually been tacked or pasted to a support carried by the running-board, or two placards have been carried on opposite sides of a reversible holder.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a simple and eflective holder which will accommodate one or metallic placards anlis also adapable to the usual paper placar s.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one form of holder made in accord ance with our invention, Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2 is an enlarged section of the line 2-2 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig ure 1; Figure 4 is a top plan view of one end of the holder; and Figure 5 is a reduced View showing a modified form of support for the holder.

Referring first to Figure 1, carried by the running-board 1 of the car is an upright 2 to which the holder 3 is secured by bolts 4. The holder is formed of a substantially square piece of sheet metal having formed in it, along one of its diagonals, a pair of cupshaped depressions 5 in which are holes 6 for the passage of the bolts. Being of considerable size these depressions add to the rigidity of the holder while forming pockets for the heads of the bolts and also spacing the holder from the support. Owing to the diagonal arrangement of the pockets the holder may be secured either to an upright, as shown in Figure 1, or to a horizontal support 7, as shown in Figure 5, the square form of the placard permitting it to be displayed upright with the holder in either positlon.

Two opposing and one of the intermediate edges of the sheet are turned over to form flanges 8 and 9, respectively. These flanges are slightly separated at the corners of the holder to form drip openings 10 one of which is situated at the lowest point of the holder when in the position shown in Figure 1, and

Serial No. 2213,9995 I the other when it is in the position shown in Figure 5. Any rain entering the holder is thus allowed to drain oif. Secured to each of the flanges 8 by rivets 11 is a spring arm 12, holes 13 (Figure 2) being formed in the plate for the passage of a tool to support the rivet during the process of riveting. Carried by the arms 12 is an angle-iron bar one flange 14 of which overlies the placard within the holder, while the other flange 15, in its normal position, closes the side of the holder through which the placards are inserted and withdrawn. A finger piece 16 is riveted t0 the flange 14 by means of which the angleiron can be moved against the tension of the spring arms to uncover the open side of the holder toinsert or withdraw placards. The turned over ends of the arms 12 project slightly beyond the edge of the flange 15 (as best shown at Figure 4) to form guards 17 to bear against the edges of the placard and thus prevent accidental contact of the flange with the printed parts of the placards as they are moved into and out of the holder and the marring of their faces. In order to prevent bending of the spring arms beyond the limit of resiliency the flange 14 is extended to form arms 18 having their ends bent to form stops 19.

Our holder, while especially adapted for use with permanent metallic placards, may also be used to hold paper placards, and owing to the fact that the open side of the holder is completely and effectively closed by the angle-iron and cannot he accidentally left open, there is no danger of the paper placard blowing out of the holder as might otherwise occur due to the air currents generated by the rapid movement of the car.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a rectangular body portion provided at three sides with ways to receive the edge of a placard, the fourth side being adapted to allow the insertion and removal of the placard, of a spring actuated closure member movable across the plane of the holder in a direction perpendicular thereto,

said member extending across and completely covering the said fourth side when in normal osition.

2. n a device of the class described, the

a combination with a rectangular body portion provided at three sides with ways to receive the edge of a placard, the fourth side being adapted to allow the insertion and removal of the placard, of a spring actuated angle bar extending across and completely covering the said fourth side when in normal position, said angle bar being movable across the plane of the holder in a direction perpendicular thereto.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a rectangular body por-- tion having three of its edges turned over to form integral flanges providing ways to receive the edges of a placard, the fourth side being adapted to allow the insertion and removal of the placard, of a pair of spring arms secured to flanges at opposite sides of the body, and an angle bar carried by said arms for closing said fourth side.

4. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a rectangular body portion provided at three sides with ways to receive the edges of a placard, the fourth side being adapted to al ow the insertion and removal of the placard, of a pair of spring arms carriedat opposite sides of the body, an angle bar secured to said arms for closing the fourth side, and a stop for limiting the movement of said bar.

5. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a rectangular body portion provided at three sides with ways to receive the edges of a placard, the fourth side being adapted to allow the insertion and removal of the lacard, a spring actuated closure member or said fourth side, and a pair of guards at the ends of said member or reventing accidental contact of the mem er with the placard when the latter is inserted or withdrawn.

In testimony whereof, we hereunto affix our signatures this 16th day of July, 1928.

WARREN E. COOPER. FREDERICK K. HABENICHT. 

